El Monte High School senior Adrian Castro, who played on the school’s football team. (Photo courtesy El Monte football coach Joel Sanchez)

Updates on the California bus crash

• Get all the latest updates on the bus crash involving Southern Calfornia students in Orland, Calif.

Both saddened and mourning, Yohana Aldama and Lilianna Martinez on Friday recalled their friend Adrian Castro as an El Monte High School senior who never stopped smiling.

Others took to social media such as Twitter to remember Castro, 18, as a teammate on the Lions football squad and a typical teen who sought to better himself by attending college.

“He just brought so much energy to people,” Aldama said. “He was always there for you. Even if he didn’t know a person, he would talk to them.”

Castro, 18, was among 10 people who died Thursday when a charter bus taking him and several others to visit Humboldt State University collided with a FedEx truck on the northbound 5 Freeway in Orland and burst into flames.

Elsewhere Friday, Castro’s still-grieving parents had the horrific task of seeking dental records and driving several hours north in hopes of identifying their deceased son and bringing him home one last time.

“It’s really hard for me to accept this,” his father Raul said by telephone as he drove north to Orland — a wooded stop seven hours and 500 miles north of El Monte on the 5 Freeway halfway between Sacramento and Red Bluff.

Back at home, Castro’s classmates scribbled memories across a banner that read: “RIP Fellow Lion Adrian Castro.” They covered campus walkways with chalk eulogies and turned to Twitter to remember the friend they nicknamed “Beast.” The cornerback’s teammates rallied in a huddle in the courtyard and let out a unison growl, only hours after the initial announcement notifying them of the death.

“Adrian Castro will be missed as a student and football player,” said El Monte football coach Joel Sanchez. “He was a good young man with a bright future. He will always be remembered by the El Monte family.”

Though Castro was not the best football player, Raul Castro said his son never gave up and he always pushed himself.

“He was stubborn,” the proud father recalled. “When he wanted to do something, he applied himself until he finished it.”

The teen nearly skipped the Humboldt tour after getting cold feet days earlier. He told his father that he thought he should stay close to their home in El Monte. The father and son discussed Castro attending Cal State Los Angeles instead, but decided the 18-year-old should explore both campuses before making his decision, Raul Castro said Friday.

”He told me two days ago, ‘Should I go up and check it out anyway?’ ” the father recalled.

Adrian asked again Thursday morning if he should still go as his father dropped him off at a bus stop. It was the last conversation the father and son had.

Raul and Adrian grew close after Adrian moved in to his dad’s house in freshman year. The son relocated after getting in trouble at East Valley High School in North Hollywood, where his mother and two younger brothers live.

Raul, who works most hours of the day, said Adrian became a different person after the move. He became more responsible and took care of himself. He made his own meals, washed his own clothes and rode the bus when he needed to go anywhere. If Raul needed help with a job, his son always volunteered.

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“He wasn’t afraid to do things on his own,” Raul Castro said. “I was very proud of him. He turned his life around.”

Adrian, who wore gauge earrings, started caring more about his schooling and joined the football team. He became obsessed with working out and kinesiology.

He planned to major in kinesiology — the science of movement — in college, with the hope of working in sports rehabilitation or as a personal trainer, his father said.

Thursday night, Castro’s mother told Raul their son was involved the crash. He waited all night for news and learned in the morning that his firstborn had died. Adrian’s mother drove to the scene overnight after neither parent could get information by phone.

“He died immediately,” the father said.

Students were told about Castro’s death at the start of school Friday and observed a moment of silence filled with sobs.

Counselors went to the students who knew Castro and the school district allowed parents to pick up their children early if needed.

Martinez and Aldama said it felt like students stayed in shock for much of the day.